Authors

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Bree Tomasel is an Australian radio and television host who moved to New Zealand in 2018 and who has been hugely embraced by the New Zealand public. She won New Zealand TV Personality of the Year in November 2022. She is the co-host of Celebrity Treasure Island and is on radio ZM's Bree & Clint show.Bree lives in Auckland with her partner Sophia, and their dogs Meryl Streep and Whitney Houston.

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Ane Tonga (Kolofo‘ou, Vaini Tongatapu) is the inaugural Curator, Pacific Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and curator of the exhibition Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda. Previously, she was the Lead Exhibition Curator at Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa and has undertaken curatorial roles and delivered exhibition projects across Aotearoa. Her research interests are focused on contemporary Pacific art and curatorial practice, lens-based practices and Indigenous feminisms. She is the former Deputy Chair of Contemporary HUM Trust Board (2019–21) and a member of the Whitecliffe Fine Arts Advisory Group. In 2021, she became a member of the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa.

Mele Tonga-Grant is a New Zealand-born Tongan writer and creative from Te Awa Kairangi, Aotearoa. Raised in a family culturally grounded in Tongan arts, Mele is passionate about preserving and celebrating her heritage. With a background in library services, she enjoyed conducting preschool storytime sessions and translating Tongan language picture books to share stories of her culture with younger generations.

Hawkes Bay based Aaron Topp is a former teacher and a writer. His first book Single Fin (Random, 2006) is a coming-of-age story about a boy obsessed with surfing. Based on a true story, Single Fin won an Honour Award in the Young Adult Fiction Category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2007. His second book, Creating Waves, is a series of mini-biographies of famous creative New Zealanders who surf. 2015 saw the publication of Topp's Young Adult novel Hucking Cody (Mary Egan Publishing). The novel tells the story of Cody, a young mountain biker whose unlucky run with girls, his family, and his job starts him on a journey of self-discovery. Hucking Cody received a Storylines Notable Book Award in 2016 and was a finalist for the Young Adult Fiction Award in the 2016 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

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Twin sisters Jools and Lynda Topp, aka the Topp Twins, are New Zealand's 'national treasures' who have been entertaining audiences with their distinctive brand of original music and character comedy for more than 40 years.

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Professor Gillian Torckler is a writer, medical scientist and diver, and she writes books for children and adults. Her published writing often focuses on the underwater world of New Zealand. Her book titles include New Zealand Birds of the Week/Ngā Manu o Te Wiki (2023), and My Aunt Honor (2023). Many of her books feature the work of her husband, professional photographer Darryl Torckler. Gillian Torckler is available for school visits as part of the Writers in Schools programme.